HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER: Team Week gets things started on right foot

Preseason begins this week for fall sports teams, but a pre preseason took place over the last two weeks for several area soccer teams, as it has for nearly two decades And mid-August soccer on the South Shore can only mean one thing: Championship Soccer School Team Week is back in session.

By Ryan Wood

The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA

By Ryan Wood

Posted Aug. 20, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Aug 20, 2013 at 8:18 PM

By Ryan Wood

Posted Aug. 20, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Aug 20, 2013 at 8:18 PM

PLYMOUTH

» Social News

Preseason begins this week for fall sports teams, but a pre preseason took place over the last two weeks for several area soccer teams, as it has for nearly two decades And mid-August soccer on the South Shore can only mean one thing: Championship Soccer School Team Week is back in session.

Held this year for the first time at Sacred Heart High School in Kingston, the two-week camp (first week for boys, second week for girls) brought together some of the best teams, players, and coaches in the region and continued a training clinic that dates back to the early 1990s.

The longstanding soccer tradition came to life when four individuals and top soccer minds came together and created Team Week. Current Plymouth North girls varsity head coach (and former longtime Plymouth High School girls coach) Dennis Azevedo, former Plymouth South High School boys coach Peter Kasarjian (and now girls junior varsity coach at Plymouth North), current Duxbury High girls varsity coach Emerson Coleman (former boys coach at Plymouth High School), and former Silver Lake boys and girls varsity head coach Bill Johnson gave life to the camp, and they haven’t let up.

Azevedo looked on as eight girls’ teams took part in drills with various coaches from the region. Per MIAA rules, teams are not allowed to practice with their own coach prior to preseason. So Team Week features teams under the direction of opposing teams’ coaches. For instance, this year, Plymouth South girls head coach Dave Costa led the Bridgewater-Raynham girls, and former Silver Lake boys head coach Jeff Doyle oversaw the Duxbury girls team.

“The girls, they’ll tune you out. They want to hear a different voice,” Azevedo said. “And every coach has their different favorite drills. So even year to year, we really try to shuffle the deck so that the girls get a different voice, they get different drills, so they have a different experience. So every year, we hope that they pick up one or two new things that they take to their varsity program.”

“We’re very encouraged. Our staples continue to bring big numbers,” Azevedo said. “Bridgewater-Raynham has close to 50 kids here. Duxbury’s close to 50. Plymouth North and Plymouth South both have numbers in the 40s. Silver Lake is in the 40s, which gives us some indication that they must be happy with what we’re doing, so we’re very pleased with that. We’re also encouraged this year. Norton is a new team this year, and they came with 35 strong. We’re hoping they’ll be with us for years to come.”

Page 2 of 3 - In each of the 20-plus years Team Week has run, nearly all of the teams qualify for postseason play. In some years, all teams have qualified, which speaks volumes to the quality of coaches and to how much the kids learn and apply to their game throughout the season.

“You get a better perspective about what their idea is. You get a new idea on how to play the game, and you get a better perspective about what their ideas are,” said Duxbury High School defender and captain Gabbie Davis. “This whole week is about learning how to be together and get back in the groove and having your teammates with each other. It’s good and good to have another perspective.”

Over on one of the back fields at Sacred Heart, Kasarjian directed the Silver Lake girls. He reflected on the history of Team Week and had a feeling from the start that it had the potential to endure.

“We thought if we stuck around, it would be, as long as we were coaching or involved,” he said. “We started with Billy Johnson, Emerson Coleman, and some of our friends. We had six teams at (Plymouth) South High. We needed three fields. The next year, we said, why don’t we try this with the girls, and that’s when Dennis (Azevedo) (came on board), and the girls have been a huge success since day one, and the numbers have been great.”

Azevedo said he and the other coaches take pride in what they’ve built, a camp that continuously churns out quality programs.

“We’re very proud of that. Over the years, we’ve had multiple league champions from this camp, state champions from this camp, and just about every team makes the tournament. It’s the quality of the coaches, the quality of players,” he said. “And we follow them, talking to coaches throughout the season, check in on them, and we’re happy to see that we start things here, and build from here and the kids do really, really well.”

Kasarjian said the extra few days of training at Team Week is beneficial for everyone, players and coaches alike. For the players, they have a chance to interact with new faces.

“It’s before preseason, so you get to meet someone else’s coach, which is the best part of it. It means something,” he said. “The nice part is, all the freshmen kids come in and right away they have 40 new friends. And coming into high school (as a freshman), that’s pretty intimidating. And now you’ve got these (older) kids looking out for you. It’s nice. And it’s something to do as a team-building thing. And, you get to see which players have done something and which have done nothing, and even if you’ve done nothing except this, it’s four nights ahead of anyone who hasn’t done anything.”

Page 3 of 3 - Azevedo echoed Kasarjian’s sentiment, noting that Team Week is extremely beneficial to the younger players.

“This breaks (the ice) for them. They can ease into it,” he said. “The seniors don’t look quite as scary at Team Week. I talked to my captains, and I’ve got three great captains here this week, and they accept them with open arms, bring them into the program. The bonding starts right now. This is where the program starts that really important bonding, and the success of the programs that are here indicate that everyone has pretty much the same philosophy. It’s not about Plymouth North varsity. It’s not about Duxbury varsity. It’s about a program. We all share the same philosophy: every (player) is important. The freshmen are important, the jayvees. It really helps the coaches, too. Even though they’re not coaching their players, they have an opportunity for their players to start that building process right here, working on the drills, having fun.”

For the first hour each night, the players warm up before running working on skills and tactics. They then scrimmage other schools for the remaining two hours.

“I told the girls when we started, our number one goal here is that you have a good time. We’re not going to win any state championships in Team Week,” Azevedo said. “It’s about having a good time, getting the dust off from the beach, start kicking the ball around, start getting in shape so that you’re ready for your tryouts, that you’re not putting your cleats on for the first time.”

What keeps Championship Soccer School Team Week alive each year? The answer is simple.

“It’s just passion,” Kasarjian said. “We love it. It’s good coaching. The coaches have to be behind this, and I think if the coach takes it seriously, the kids take it seriously.”